Ram Avatar Bhardwaj has bagged the role.

Debutant actor Ram Avatar Bhardwaj will play former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in The Accidental Prime Minister, the makers announced on Friday. He will appear along with Anupam Kher, who plays former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte, The Accidental Prime Minister is adapted from Sanjaya Baru’s 2014 memoir of the same name. Baru served as Singh’s media advisor from May 2004 to August 2008. The book is critical of how Singh was treated during his tenure as Prime Minister, claiming that he had been “defanged”, with important decisions being taken by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi.

The Accidental Prime Minister also features Akshaye Khanna as Baru, Aahana Kumra as Priyanka Gandhi, and Divya Seth Shah as Singh’s wife Gursharan Kaur. The screenplay has been written by national Award-winning filmmaker Hansal Mehta, who will also function as creative producer. The Accidental Prime Minister is scheduled to be released on December 21, the same day as Anand L Rai’s Zero.